Karl Edwards presents Working Matters

Author: Karl Edwards

  • Listen In -> Paying Attention to Attentiveness #1: The Neglected Leadership Skill

    Paying attention is a skill first introduced to us in kindergarten. A room full of energetic and curious 5-year olds without any capacity for self-control or responsibility needs to be taught how to pay attention.

    “Pay attention!” The teacher is about to say something. Some words are about to come flying at you, and you will be better off if you are prepared and able to catch them. Those words may be instructions. They may be stories. They may be questions. They may be explanations.

    You won’t be able to recognize what is coming at you unless you are paying attention. And if you don’t recognize what is coming at you, you won’t be able to respond appropriately.

    We need to be able to pay attention at work more than we think we do. In a fast-paced world like ours, paying attention is a skill that needs to be recovered. Much comes flying at us all the time. If we want to respond appropriately, then we need to be paying attention.

    This week Claudia and I begin a new audio series entitled, “Paying Attention to Attentiveness.”

    Paying Attention to Attentiveness
    Week #1: The Neglected Leadership Skill
    Week #2: Attentive to Changes
    Week #3: Attentive to Problems
    Week #4: Attentive to People
    Week #5: Attentive to Ideas and Trends

    As vital as our proactive leadership practices like strategic thinking, goal setting, and planning are, we need to be alert to what is coming at us as well. We need to be able to react calmly, promptly, and cleverly.

    Like the tennis player who needs to aggressively carry out their own game plan, they must also be able to react instantly and repeatedly to whatever is coming at them.

    How well do you react to the unexpected, continuous change, emergencies, or economic turmoil?

    Listen in.

  • Building a Distinct Approach to Your New Year’s Resolution

    For as widespread as the practice of setting New Year’s Resolutions is, almost more common is the expectation that these resolutions will not, in fact, be kept.

    Are we becoming too cynical? Or are we merely laughing at our own failings?

    The problem with how we traditionally approach New Year’s resolutions is that it’s such an all-or-nothing affair.

    Most of us set an ambitious goal for ourselves. So far so good. It’s helpful to have a goal and for that goal to be specific.

    But then we articulate the goal as an all-or-nothing proposition. In other words the only two options available are to keep it entirely or to fail it utterly.

    “I will lose 15 pounds.” “I will keep my desk clean.” “I will stop calling the Trojan (more…)

  • Quote to Consider: An Infinite Return on Investment

    quote-to-consider“Nothing is ever lost by courtesy. It is the cheapest of pleasures, costs nothing, and conveys much. It pleases him who gives and receives and thus, like mercy, is twice blessed.”

    Erastus Wiman

  • Quote to Consider: Merry Christmas!

    quote-to-considerO Holy Night!

    O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining 
    It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth. 
    Long lay the world in sin and error pining. 
    Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth. 
    A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, 
    For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. 
    Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices! 
    O night divine, the night when Christ was born; 
    O night, O Holy Night , O night divine! 
    O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

    Led by the light of faith serenely beaming, 
    With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand. 
    O’er the world a star is sweetly gleaming, 
    Now come the wisemen from out of the Orient land. 
    The King of kings lay thus lowly manger; 
    In all our trials born to be our friends. 
    He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger, 
    Behold your King! Before him lowly bend! 
    Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!

    Truly He taught us to love one another, 
    His law is love and His gospel is peace. 
    Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother. 
    And in his name all oppression shall cease. 
    Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we, 
    With all our hearts we praise His holy name. 
    Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we, 
    His power and glory ever more proclaim! 
    His power and glory ever more proclaim!

    Adolphe Charles Adam

  • Karl Shares Six Words… 7


    Belittling lecture undermined by eggnog mustache.


    Karl Edwards

  • Clippings from Don: Who Needs a Desk When You Have a Lap?

    Office workspace is shrinking. So observes Roger Vincent in Wednesday’s Los Angeles Times.

    Vincent does his best to observe an insightful emerging trend, but I can’t help suspect a desperate cost-cutting ploy.

    With the rapid embrace of mobile technology and the integrated lifestyles of the young emerging professional, the need for dedicated office real estate for each individual’s private usage may not be a valid starting assumption for planning purposes.

    On the other hand, we must recognize that there exist leaders who consider employees an unfortunate and painfully necessary expense; and who upon any excuse whatsoever will eliminate, minimize and/or squeeze any outlay related to them.

    One set of leaders observes the changing nature of work, communications, lifestyles, and office space and sees an opportunity to redesign workspace to make the office an even more useful, productive and appropriate source of resources.

    The other set of leaders hears of these developments and discovers a source of excuses to use in their quest to squeeze as much as possible from every employee for as little as possible, whether or not it results in actual benefits to the bottom line.

    Which type of leader are you? In one case, you stand to increase employee loyalty and company results designing office space around actual usage. In the other case you risk alienating the very people you need to succeed in your desperation to save a buck or two cutting wherever and whenever possible.

    Read Vincent’s full article here.

    Voracious reader friend Don Silver always has an eye out for what interests me. Clippings from Don is a column where I pass on some of these articles, stories and resources to you.

  • Quote to Consider: Caring in Principle Only

    quote-to-consider“The fact is that the possession of a highly social conscience about large-scale issues is no guarantee whatever of reasonable conduct in private relations.”

    Lewis Hastings

  • Karl Shares Six Words… 6


    Wisdom gasps underneath the heavy memo.


    Karl Edwards

  • Life is a Casserole… Still a Feast, Just Not Very Pretty

    I begin with an apology to those for whom work and life come easy. To those for whose priorities sort themselves out before any difficult choice needs to be made, this article may seem so much wasted breath.

    We tend to think about the various contexts of life separately. Work, family, friends, politics, sports, religion, hobbies, etc.

    We then proceed to burden ourselves with the task of achieving a mythical ideal of “balance” between them all. As if there existed some ideal slicing of the pie, so to speak, by which we would be appropriately invested in each compartment in such a way that we were neither overwhelmed by any one of them.

    Better than slices of pie, though, is the analogy of the seven-course meal. Each course in its time, each course serving its culinary purpose, each course designed to delight all of the senses. So we think about our various contexts of life. Each should have its time, accomplish its purpose, and result in its benefits.

    Reality, though, rarely (I’m dying to say “never”) works out so neatly. Reality is messy. Reality consists of the unexpected, the complex, much that is broken, and much that does not fit very well.

    Instead of embracing the messiness of reality, we launch on our various heroic quests for the holy grail of “balance.”

    Maybe the casserole would be a yet better analogy for life than the seven-course meal. All the same ingredients are present, but the presentation isn’t as beautiful and the components aren’t artificially kept separate.

    The task of building a meaningful and rewarding life feels differently to me when my goal is to simply concoct the most delicious casserole I can. Instead of chasing some mythical ideal of the perfectly balanced seven-course meal, I am working with who I currently am and with what and whom I currently have in the pantry.

    What have you got in the pantry? Instead of stressing about what’s not there, how about taking stock of what is there. Instead of viewing what is there through the eyes of the seven-course meal and how far short it falls of that ideal, view it through the eyes of the casserole and what delicious combinations can be created by you.

    The gourmet sausage industry did not grow out of trying to figure out what to do with the best cuts of meat.

    Work, family, friends, politics, sports, religion and hobbies don’t need to be artificially isolated from each other and set at odds with each other. We don’t need to argue about whether the main course should be work or family or religion.

    If I can be ok with the harsh reality that casseroles will never look as beautiful, organized or balanced as a meal with courses, then I can relax and enjoy how delightfully yummy it is.

    I have, in essence, traded the unattainable and mythical ideal of balance for the always available if messy reality of flavor.

    Still a feast, just not very pretty.

    On your side,

    – Karl Edwards

  • Loving Monday: Remembering The Truth About You

    loving_mondayFor too many people these days, Monday morning does not begin a new week at work. Monday begins a new week of looking for work.

    Having a bad job can wear one down, but having no job can wear one out.

    The experience of repeated rejections is difficult not to make personal and internalize.

    We lose confidence. We lose energy. We begin to think that we might be the problem and not the economy.

    It is in this situation that Monday becomes a weekly opportunity to pause and remind ourselves of the truth. The truth about ourselves, our skills, our capabilities and our character. The truth about the job market. 12% unemployment is unparalleled in our working lives. This is no ordinary cyclical recession that we can wait out.

    The title of the column, “Loving Monday,” almost sounds like someone is mocking our pain. How can we love beginning another week of hustling ourselves to a working world that has curled up into a fetal position in the corner until some undisclosed future time when it feels safe to make commitments again?

    The truth, though, is that you are a valuable professional. You bring a marvelous set of skills, perspectives, experiences, personality, attitude, and competencies.

    Regardless of the economic reality by which so many businesses find themselves constrained, you have value. Enormous value.

    This fact is the truth that needs to be reengaged each Monday morning as you launch another strenuous week of telephone calls, letters, emails, coffees, lunches, networking efforts, and interviews.

    While always tiring, while sometimes discouraging, while occasionally depressing, our continued job hunting efforts nonetheless give credence to the larger truth. The truth that we have value.

    If you need a more personal reminder of the deeper truth of your value, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

    On your side,

    – Karl Edwards

    Loving Monday is a weekly column designed to encourage us to step into our weeks with an intention to show up authentically, engage fully, and choose to make it a good week for ourselves. Explore past columns here.